Battle of the In-laws

Matt and I realized a few months ago, that every Sunday we expect a phone call from either my mother or his, inviting us to dinner. This has been going on, probably since before we got married. Surprisingly, there seems to be a natural tendency for them to call every other weekend, thus avoiding the horrid task of declining. But, in the last couple months, the rhythym got thrown off, and we got double invites a few weekends in a row. We then noticed that the invite call started coming earlier and earlier. Thus, beginning the battle of the in-laws for Sunday dinner. If we haven't recieved a call by 3 in the afternoon, we both get a bit panicky. Are we not going have family dinner tonight!? Which families' turn is it? One time, we even hosted dinner - crisis averted.

I mention this Sunday tradition, because I think this plays a giant role in my overly positive attitude toward being a new parent. My complete lack of stress, my constant elation, and my new, proud identity as a mother are due to the fact that I get out of the house, whenever I want or need. I have a huge family that loves, and scoops up Brock the instant he arrives. I have never had to reach a breaking point of exhaustion or frustration, there is always someone I trust and more importantly, willing to help, within reach.  (Also, due in part to Brock's habit of sleeping from 9:45pm - 6:45am almost every night.)

My supportive friends is a new post all in its own...so, thank you all.

75th Percentile

Because this blog has now partly become Brock's baby book, I thought I'd throw up his stats from his recent Doc's appointment.

Weight: 15 lbs 9 ozs
Length: 26 in
Head Circumference - who really cares?
Eye color: Blue
Hair color: YTBD
Which Parent does he look more like: Depends on the facial expression.

And again, 2 more shots, so I will re-iterate my description from his 2 month shots:
"So, my teeny - weeny, innocent, adorable, unknowing baby got 3 shots today...and all I could do was laugh at his reaction (which was momentary shock, then panic, then utter rage.) I may be an unfit parent."

*Side Note: I absolutely, do not, give people pet names. Matt is strictly Matt to me, and vice versa, but Brock has inspired me, and I rarely call him by his actual name. Some of my favorites: Boo, Dr. Poopsie, Broke-y, Broke-a-loke, Brocky-boo-boo-boo-boo, nugget, nugget of love, muffin of love, nugget-y muffin of love, Baby.

4 Months Today!

Brock turned 4 months old today, and I took my very last quiz ever in med school! Now just a couple more finals and practicals and it's board study time...woo hoo! Since there aren't too many exciting landmarks to report on, I'll just mention a few fun little observations.

(1) We most likely have a thumb-sucker on our hands. We try to get him to take a paci - won't have anything to do with them. I try to pull the thumb out, but he just thinks it's a game and puts it right back in his mouth as fast as he can. I mean, the instant you lay him on the changing table, the thumb goes straight to the mouth! Not too happy about this, you can take away a pacifier, you can't (ethically) cut off a thumb.

(2) Brock is attempting to sit on his own, but he is a bit too squirmy, a bit lacking in abdominals and a bit lacking in coordination, but he's got plenty of time to figure that one out.

(3)He laughs, a lot, at everything. This was my one hope, I really wanted a giggly baby. (I may or may not spend my entire day coaxing the child to laugh though...)

(4) His habit of going at his fingers, or your fingers, or Stewie like a rabid dog has worsened.

(5) He is filling out - finally.

(6) He fights sleep, more often then not. He takes little cat-naps all day leaving me very unproductive, but sleeps 8+ hours 5-7 nights a week. So, I'll take it!

(7) The position he is happiest in; standing and facing outward - especially with dogs in view.

Finally, here are 2 videos: the first is "Father Son Balancing Act", the second is "Giggles at What?" (thanks for the toy, Maggie)

I LOVE green!

We continued this year with our traditional St. Patrick's day celebration. Despite the holiday being on a Tuesday, there was quite a turnout and the 70 degree weather made it all the more enjoyable! Brock joined us in the morning at the Lillig's for the breakfast buffet and Jameson shots (which he partook of neither). The cute little leprechan hat - is meant for a dog. Oh well. We then moved on to Californos, where our friendly conversing was constantly interrupted by one Amey searching for another Amey, at all times. It wouldn't be St. Patty's day without chaos (or Irish car bombs - ek!)

I just dropped a pretzel down my shirt.

The first photo is what happens when I put Matt in charge of dressing the baby. As if the name "Brock" didn't already put him in the running for fraternity president, that outfit about sealed the deal. I'd like to also add, from my observation, perhaps boys secretly wish they had dolls to dress up as children, and this manifests in adulthood with their own child's appearance (or maybe I have a girlish husband?)

The 3rd photo is Brock blowing out the candles for his 16 week birthday. No, we did not really celebrate that landmark, the real story is that my 24 year old sister "loves" birthday candles and will use any excuse to light them. The cake is leftover from a wedding she worked this past weekend.

Congrats to Meaghan 'Brown' Hagenhoff. She is due May 28th with her first little one. She attended grade school and high school with me. Her friend Katie Houlehan (a former grade school basketball rival of mine) put on a nice little shower at Brio on the Plaza.

A Stalker's Dream Come True

Matt has always been into photography, but his interest turned obsession, I'd say, soon after we began searching for our wedding photographers. Since then, there are quite a few Kansas City Artists that he blog stalks on a fairly regular basis (umm...like daily). Well, turns out one of his "usuals" lives directly behind us, literally. I mean they just got a dog. A swingset mysteriously appeared one day, and we were like, oh, they have kids - then just as mysteriously it disappeared. If this doesn't convince you, I have on more; a cat sits in their back window all day, and this exact cat showed up in a photo on the blog. Three years we've lived here!

Will the iMac be the Solution?

So, Matt and I just bought a brand smackin' new iMac. 24" monitor. It is awesome. Anyway, my slow, old Compaq laptop did not have the capabilities to load video footage. I left one loading for 12 hours! And I got nothing. So I randomly tried this short 17 second clip from Brock's first bath. He hated them then, but loves them now.

An example of how cute 9 weeks can be:

(He's actually 14 weeks now, but I just found this photo.)

One Person's Trash...

...is another person's treasure, is what I always say.

Never have I seen a more perfect example of this, until I walked into an Estate sale, about 6 blocks away from my house. In this sale, I found in the basement, an old, black steel desk. One that had a rotting laminate top, and a bum front right leg. This desk had a price tag of $50 taped to its top, with a ziploc bag of cables marked $3 and a clip-on desk lamp marked $10. The very same desk we had put on the curb in front of our house in July. The same desk we put on the curb because we could not even sell it for $2. The same desk we had left cables in the drawer and a clip-on desk lamp attached to its side. The same desk our roommate bought 3 years ago for $5 from a business getting rid of all it's old, dirty office furniture.

Footloose and Fancy Free

Friday night kicked off my last Spring Break ever! I am almost a real grown-up. Matt and I had two shows lined up for the weekend. The first was Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy. Which turned out to be a bizarre, slightly childish knock off of the true Cirque Du Soleil. Nevertheless, the stunts were amazing, and as usual, made me feel like the most out of shape, lazy POS there ever was.The other show, my anniversary gift, was the Lippizaner Stallions. Beautiful, amazing creatures. I want a horse.